Colin Legum, (born Jan. 3, 1919, Kestell, Orange Free State, S.Af.—died June 8, 2003, Cape Town, S.Af.), South African-born journalist who , was one of the West’s most respected African affairs analysts. Legum left his homeland for England in 1949 as a protest against apartheid, and he did not return permanently until the 1990s. His work as the Commonwealth correspondent (1951–81) for the The Observer newspaper and as editor (from 1968) of the African Contemporary Record, however, led him to develop friendly personal relations with most of the top African leaders, including Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta, and Oliver Tambo. Legum’s books included Africa: A Handbook to the Continent (1961) and Africa Since Independence (1999).

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